FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
GRAND OPENING OF NON-PROFIT LOCAL ART CENTER IN THE CAPITOLA MALL: “ART OF SANTA CRUZ”
Free Community Event and Ribbon Cutting on Thursday, May 8th, 5pm – 7pm
SCOTTS VALLEY, CA – The non-profit Regional Artisans Association will celebrate the grand opening of its newest community arts venue, Art of Santa Cruz in the Capitola Mall on Thursday, May 8th, from 5-7pm. This new 4000 sq. ft. local arts venue will be dedicated to exhibiting and selling the work of over 100 local Santa Cruz County artists. The May 8th Grand Opening and Ribbon Cutting will be co-hosted by the Capitola Chamber of Commerce and the Scotts Valley Chamber of Commerce, and will be a free community event. Wine and food will be available, and door prizes will include artwork donated by local artists.
Santa Cruz County has the fifth largest population of artists per capita in the United States, according to a survey published in Atlantic Magazine in November, 2011 (numbers 1-4 on this list are Santa Fe, NM, San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles). The Regional Artisans Association’s mission stems from its vision of a future where Santa Cruz County is an internationally renowned cultural landmark and a recognized destination for art lovers, art buyers, and cultural tourists. We envision a thriving art tourism economy where our local artists have the same exhibition and sales opportunities enjoyed by artists living in Santa Fe, NM: a robust infrastructure of self-sustaining, permanent art venues, a continual influx of art and culture tourism, and a local population that is invested in the economic success of our artistic community.
Art of Santa Cruz, along with its sister venue, Scotts Valley Artisans, represents a new, non-profit model for quickly and affordably establishing large-scale art exhibition and sales venues in Santa Cruz County. The challenge of expanding our County’s visual arts infrastructure can be overwhelming and prohibitively costly, particularly given our area’s cost of living and the state of the economy. The Regional Artisans Association assembles large groups of local artists who work together to establish self-sustaining exhibition spaces—much like permanent, indoor art and craft festivals. Through our organizational framework, and with an eye toward non-traditional gallery locations, we establish successful, large-scale exhibition spaces that serve to highlight and make available the vast amount of art being created in our county.
Art of Santa Cruz is located next to the interior entrance of Target, across the aisle from the SPCA storefront.